Automobile signaling device



Feb. 4, 1930. H. A. COULTER AUTOMOBILE SIGNALING DEVICE Filed Dec. l..1928

hyver ror H A GouH-er Patented Fa; 4, 1930 amasse- PATENT or me iiiiei'rA. comma, or wmmrhe, maniaca cAimnA aUiro oBIIJE sI' NALiNG newer:

appiieeeibn med-December 1, 1928, Serial No. 323,025, and i171 eanada'November 1a, 1928 I The invention relates to improvements in automobilesignaling devices and an object of the invention is to provide .a simplyconstructedandea's'il operated appliance which i5 willpermit the criverotan automobileto '1 etlecta-signalwhichwill positively indicate toafollowing driver Whether he is going to stop or make-a .turnto the rightor left.

' further object'is to construct the appli- -10 an ce so that it can.bejpositi-vely reliedgupon and so thateach signalwhen actuated willbeilluniinated'and clearly Visible, the opera. tion oftheiseveralsignals beingidirectly under the control-of the drivervfromhiss'eat.

vide' faisignaling dev'ice whereinrthe several signals are actuated byair and controlled jby a valve locatedwithiniconyenientrange j" ofthe'driye-rsseat. 1 v- 1 I illlith the above more important objects in Vview-the invention consiststessentially in the arrangementand-construction of parts here-= inafter. more: particularly described,refer- I ",FigmQ isan enlarged,detailed yertical see tihali-yiew:at2"+2f Figure 1'. 4 I

*3 3Fig1lie2.- VL i e I :Fig; 4; isa verticalsectional-"view at- 4+4Eigurefl, I a I j. Y Fig. is apers eetive Vview. or?v onerot the eigna-leplatesiw LeFiigv fills enlarged-detailed"vertical see- I tionalQtiew centrally throughthe valve em ployed, certainpartsbeingshownin-sideaele" v vatgem r and 01 tow ds hes aseof the Valve-.1

, :Eiglis an inverted yiewofithegvalve disc.

' In the drawing likeeharacters ofreferonce; indicate-correspondingparts" in the sevfig f s. a 5

lie-box or] casing} ofthe signaling device referably f0rmed of; me a a dit; is pr yids towardsthe .bottom;and at the back i w hiagsubstantiallyrectangular window-"0 opening 2-which is preferablyflared;

i: 1 91' g l -ass st) that when; the same is illuminated once being hadtoithe accompanying draw ;Fig'.-,3 isaiihori-zohtal sectional ,view atgfliis; a. seetionaliiiiew at Figurefi and not covered by a signalplate, it will serve as the conventional red tail signal used onaoltomobiles at the rear. i I e. a

The bottom of the box is provided with a furthertransparent window 3formed from clear glass and through which the customary automobilelicense plate is illuminated when the'conventi'onal electric lamp 4 isinserted,-.the lamp being carried by asupporting socket 5 mounted onthefront'of the box, ityb'eing understood'that the front of the box isconsidered as that which is facing forwardly whenthe deviceis placedonthe automobile. The lamp dislocated centrally to 5 furtherobjectiofthe'inventioni-s top'ro-i therear of the window 2 so that a redlight shows when the Saidiwindow isnot covered by, a; signal plate; aslater described.

Adjoining the endsofthe Window 2, I cate an opposing pair of guideplates-6 and 7 w ich a e herein shown as entete provide opposing=pairs'of Vertical channels 8,-.9 and, D- he pairs of c ann ls-I mountforvertical sliding movement, similalysignaling plates 11,- 12 and 13 andthese plates each present ,a. substantially rectangular body portion, llfrom which eXtejnds'a bail 1 5, the cross portions of the bail beingprovided with a supporting member in the' form of 1a rod 16. Normallythesignal platesvreston the bottom of the box, being positioned one behindthe otherand at suchtime, the upper edge 14 of the body part otthe plateis in line with orbelow the lower sideof the win-' dow 2 so tha-tit willnotbeseen' a-nde tl e bail;

spans thewindow, a

: Thegbodypart of each plate has portions thereof stamped'out to i'ormletters and these stamped o'utletters spell desired signals. InFigure,5,;I haveshown the body of;the' plate as stamped out toin'dicatestopdand ob-- v e ly pen hi pla being ia s ito ar sition-directly behindthe windomthelight shining through the out out portions of the platewillgiye the signaljstop tea-follow:

" ng u cmo ile; eu i rd appearing in red due to the red coloured glassof; the window 2, iThe other two signal plates 'shown will, be stampedout withletters so that they will read [respectively .right and left andas the stamping-of these letters'is done in the same manner as indicatedon the stop signal plate'shown in Figure 5, I have not considered itnecessary to separately show them. I

In order to selectively raise the signaling plates to their positionopposing the window 2, I have used plungers and air cylinders, the

plungers being actuated by the'air ina manner later described toselectively raise the signaling plates, The rods 16 are each pro-.

vided on their upper ends with plungers or pistons 17, the rods beingbent'in order to allow the pistons to be transversely aligned within thebox. The pistons operate slidably within cylinders 18, the cylindersbeing formed by boring similar cylinder forming holes in a base block 19provided, the block being permanently fastened in any suitable manner tothe rear side of the casing.

The stroke of each plunger within its cylinder is such that when theplunger is down, the signal platerwillbe resting on the bottom of thebox and suchthat when fully up, the signaling plate will bedirectlyopposing the window 2.

. Onthe dash 20 or other selected stationary part of the automobile andwithinconvenient range of the driver, I have located an air controllingvalve which embodies a stationary base plate 21 and a rotating disc '22.'The.

baseplate is suitably fastened' to the dash and provided with a centralopening 23" through which a bolt 24 rotatably passes, the

one end ofthebolt being screw threaded or otherwise'firmly fastened tothe disc and the other end being provided with a head 25. A hole 26 isformed in the dash to receive the screw and air pipes later describedand a' coiled spring 27 is placed on the screw beengine.

' tween the plate 21 and the head and normally holds the disc pressedtightly against the plate but permits rotation of the disc in respect tothe plate.

A pipe 28 communicates with a port 29 in the base plate 21 and this pipeleads to sayithe intake manifold 30 of an automobile I provide also inthe present embodiment of the invention, three other ports 31,32 and 33in the base plate 21,'such ports being concentric to the bolt 24. Threepipes 34, 35 and 36 lead from the ports'3l, 32 and r 33 to the severalcylinders18, the several pipes passing" out through the hole 26.

The disc 22 is provided on the under side with a circular slot 37 whichis adapted to be at all times in communication with the window.

that 31, theother two ports 32 and 33 are open to atmosphere throughcertain of the holes 39 registering therewith.

The disc is provided oppositethe' ofiset' 38 with a pointer 40 and'witha manipulating handle 41 and the base plate is supplied with graduationmarks radially opposite the ports 31,29, 32 and '33 and thegraduationmarks have the lettersL, N, R and S associated therewith, suchletters indicating left, neutral, right and stop respectively and thearrangement being such that. when the pointer 40 is opposite any one ofV the graduation 1narks,the signal corresponding to that graduationindication such as stop will be indicated.

- According to the above it-will be obviousthat when theindicatingp0inter:4O is set at N or neutral marking, there will'be nosignal plate'actuated andthe indicatorwill simply show the customaryredtaillight. f On i the other hand, should the indicating pointer 40 beturned to the indicating mark. L on the plate, the pipe 28 will beconnected;

, throughthe port 29, slot 37 oflset 38 and port 3l with the pipe 34 andaccordingly the. suction of the automobile engine will cause! theraising of the plunger associated with the .indicatingplate. having-thesignal left 7 thereon and such signal will be'immediately visiblethrough the window 2. Atsuch time the ports 32 and; 33 are open'toatmosphere 7 through the ports 39.

l/Vhilst I have described the inventionwherein air suction of vacuum isutilized to selectively actuate the pistons or plungers in thecyli'nders,it will be readily. understood that airlunder pressure couldas readily be used to eliectthe shiftingiof the pistons in theircylinders at the selected times- V What I claim as my invention is 1.-In a'signaling device,'a;casing having a window in the rear thereof,aplurality of signal plates positioned one behind the other and normallynon-visible through the window andmounted' for vertical slidingmovementin a direction across the window, an

air. cylinder forea'ch signal plate, said cyl inders being abovetheplates and permanently.carried by the casing, a plunger operative 1ymounted in each cylinder and directly connected to one oftheunderlying'signal plates and means controlled from a distant 1 V 7point for selectively exhausting the air from V a desired cylinder toeffect the shifting of a desired plate into a position opposing the 2.In asignaling'device,acasing having 7 a window in the rear thereof, aplurality 1'25 7 of signal plates-positioned -'one behind the other andnormally non-visible throughthe w ndow and mounted forvertical sliding"movement in a" direction across the window,

an alr cylinder for each signalplate'posi- 1 e i 30 tioned above the'Windows-andcarried by the casing, a plunger operatively mounted in eachcylinder and directly connected to one of the "underlying signal plates,means controlled from a distant point for selectively exhausting the airfrom a desired cylinder to eflect I the up shifting of a desired plateinto a position opposing the window and an illuminating lamp mountedWithin the casing to the rear of the Window.

m -3.- In a signaling device, a casing having a window in the rearthereof, a plurality of signal plates positioned one behind the otherand normally non-visible in a location beneath the window, said platesbeing mount- 15 ed for vertical sliding movement in a direction acrossthe window and being each pro vided' with a bail bar spanning theWindow,

a vertically disposed air cylinder for each signal plate positionedabove the Window and carried by the casing, a plunger operably mountedin each cylinder, a rod directly con-f necting each plunger to a bailbar and means operated from a distant point for selectively,discharging'the air from ardesired cylinder 5' to "effect the upshifting of a desired plate u ,into an exposed position opposing theWin- Signeclat Winnipeg, this 30 day of Au- 'gust,1928. i

, I HUGH ACQULTER.

